Outpours
by caelizar
Summary: Because Haruno Sakura says she is not worried at all. NaruSaku. NEW chapter up!
1. Outpours 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: Because Haruno Sakura says she is not worried at all.

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**Outpours**

By: caelizar

Hours have gone by and the rain still hasn't stopped. Outside the window, the rain, heavy and unrelenting, seemed to pour down endlessly. Lightning and thunder graced the somber dark grey sky, and cold winds blew, chilling the night air. And the rest of the people of Konohagakure take refuge in the sanctuary of their homes, perhaps eating family dinner beside a warm fire, or drinking a cup of hot tea, or standing by their bedroom window, looking out into the rain—like Haruno Sakura.

Sakura peered into the cold darkness that is outside her window, her fingers touching the icy surface of the window pane. Letting out a deep sigh, she checked the wall clock, which told her that she had been there for almost an hour.

An hour of trying to reconcile why she feels that everyday was somehow incomplete.

_I hope he got home alright_, came a sudden thought as she viewed the storm in front of her, remembering that Sasuke escorted her back to the Haruno household, and the rain began the moment they stepped upon the doorstep.

_Just my luck_, the Uchiha muttered, the Konoha rain season is not to be taken lightly. "See you Sakura!" Sasuke bid goodbye and hopped off for the shortest way to his house, carrying the umbrella Sakura offered to lend him, which he was reluctant to take at first, but seeing the angry sky, Sasuke felt he had no choice.

The Sharingan master darting across the village roofs with a pink umbrella in hand. Sakura's thoughts indeed caused her to let out a small chuckle.

Sasuke is still… well…, Sasuke. Just as silent and competitive as he was before. However, the good side of him has grown in this few months. Slowly, he made his way back to Konoha, and slowly, Konoha welcomed him back. His eyes no longer burned with neither hate nor revenge, but simply reflected who he is: Uchiha Sasuke. He is changing, and it was a good change, as Sakura and Kakashi-sensei both agreed upon during one of their training sessions.

_Sasuke-kun will soon be taking the Chuunin exam_, Sakura remembered, _the one next year perhaps?_

Sakura continued to muse, pulling a warm blanket closer to her form. Despite being inside, her room seemed to share the cold outside.

Everyone else was so proud in the progress that Sasuke is making, and Sakura was sure that Naruto would also be proud.

If he knew.

If he was here.

And Sakura wonders when Naruto will come home.

_What am I thinking?_

_What are you thinking!_ Inner Sakura seconded.

The pink-haired kunoichi continued to stare outside, her green orbs searching, as if it can see through the thick blanket of rain. The noisy blonde has set off to the Water Country for a visiting mission that will last for five months.

_What's taking you so long?_ She questions, and finds it unusual that she Haruno Sakura, had been anticipating Naruto's return, almost angry, considering the fact that it has been eight whole months since his departure.

And actually, she asks the same question every single day.

_Eight months! Eight months, Naruto! The mission said five! FIVE! Not eight!_

Naruto had been out of Konoha for almost a year. A month after getting their teammate back, Naruto went away with Jiraiya for three months. And the day he came back, she learned that he has accepted a mission immediately. With that, he left again.

Haruno Sakura always thought that things would go back to normal once Sasuke was back. Team seven would be whole again. They would be together in missions again. With Naruto and Sasuke boasting off who's better, with Kakashi-sensei coming with a lame excuse for being so late, with her trying to get Uchiha Sasuke's attention, and her sending Naruto flying into the air for disturbing her. Just the way things used to be.

And Sakura perfectly knew how wrong her thoughts had been.

Change is inevitable.

In this time, only several of her missions were done together with Sasuke and Kakashi; most of the time, she'd get assigned with the other teams as their medic nin. Training is now done with the sake-loving Godaime, and yes, surprisingly, even to herself, she no longer exerted effort to get the raven-haired Sasuke to date her. She respected that he still has deeper wounds to heal.

And of course, with the kyuubi vessel away, her days are less noisy. No Naruto dragging her to Ichiraku, no Naruto screaming out: Saaakuuuura-chaan, no Naruto giving her that thumbs up sign with a grin that reached both ears, no Naruto around foolishly trying to make her smile.

And she realizes how her thoughts of the sunny shinobi were the complete opposite of the scene outside her window. The dark nimbus above showed no sign of slowing down, the downpour continued.

_What's taking you so long?_ her mind repeats.

_It's just a visiting mission! No enemies! No one to escort and protect with your life! No Akatsuki! Or even that evil Sannin!_ Sakura yelled in her head.

Sakura tried to drown out thoughts of Naruto's life being in grave danger. Or of him in a bar filled with women.

_You better come back alive! Or else! I still have to crush that face of yours for leaving without saying goodbye!_

"And why am I worried? **WHY? WHY? WHY?** Why do I even think of that loudmouth Uzumaki who kept his promise, why worry about that baka who understood me better than anyone else in this drenched village!"

Sakura gasped. She had actually screamed those words out. Quite loudly. She now found herself standing up.

"That it!" she said, placing her hands on her hips, and thankful that she is in her room where no one is around to witness her blush furiously. Turning around, she pointed towards the photo sitting at the desk by the bed, the one that was taken during their genin days, with her and Kakashi smiling, while the other two idiots sulked. She glared at the blonde-haired idiot.

"That's enough Naruto! I don't know how you do it, but you still manage to irritate me even when you're outside the Fire Country!"

"In fact Uzumaki Naruto, I'm **NOT** even worried about **YOU** at all! **NOT ONE BIT!**" she added.

Ridiculous as it is to blame and threaten a harmless photograph, Sakura didn't mind. She proceeded to near the bed, in decision to finally take a rest, and maybe break the frame to vent out her annoyance, imagining that it was Naruto himself that she was pummeling.

About to reach for the frame, something made her stop. Beside it, lay the gorgeous hair ornament Naruto gave her one time. She was contemplating if she is going to wear it for this day, but she was running late and had forgotten to tuck it back in the drawers this morning.

She picked it up and admired the detail. The ornament took the form of a flower, its texture glazed and smooth. Its purple color was complemented by the golden jewel that shone at the center. One could tell it was rather expensive. Her finger traced the glassy petals, feeling the depth of the carvings. "_Three years worth of birthday presents_," that was how Naruto described it. Sakura smiled at the memory of receiving it. Carefully and slowly, she placed it back inside the drawer.

Giving a loud hmph, she looked at the frowning Naruto in the picture and said, "That doesn't mean anything, you still annoy me." With that, Sakura went to slip under the bedcovers, curling up and hugging her pillows. And tried to sleep.

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Another NaruSaku fic churned out!

It was supposed to be longer, but when I wrote the last paragraph, I felt it had to end there. I might write a part 2, a Naruto-Sakura meeting, but good ideas for that still elude me, heck; it has eluded me for weeks. And will probably so. I'm seeking inspiration for that part right now. However, I'll add to this a short fic, somehow related to _Outpours_. I'm still polishing that up.

And finally, please give your precious reviews!


	2. Worth

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Outpours additional read

Finally an update! Hooray!

Just some notes please. Though this is not the real second part of Outpours, but rather consider this as some sort of additional read. It's a flashback of an event with some form of connection to Outpours. Much kinda like a filler, functions like one too, co'z the author is already picking her hair out of frustration so as how to write Outpours part 2.

I hope you'll like it.

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**Worth**

She drew a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled, the air mingling with the warm steam of the hot spring. Sakura closed her eyes, letting herself relax; the warm pool of water undoing the stress in her muscles. It has been quite a while since the pink-haired kunoichi had given herself some due rest and relaxation. In the past years, all were about training and sharpening her ninja skills. Adding to that, the recent mission of rescuing the young kazekage; and of course their current mission now.

_Yamato-taichou's idea wasn't really bad_, Sakura thought. The onsen was great and she needed to cool her head anyway. The initial atmosphere around their newly formed team wasn't what you can actually call pleasant and cooperative.

Sakura glanced around; she had been alone in the hot spring for some minutes now. The other women had already gone off; and even though she wanted to get out of the water, she can't. One of the ladies forgot a towel and had to borrow hers instead, promising to come back with a replacement.

"Ahhh… Finally, peace and quiet." Sakura sighed in content. The temperate pool now empty of gossiping women; and no more noise, particularly those of Uzumaki Naruto, can be heard from the other side, the men's bath.

Sakura glanced back at the wooden fence immediately behind her, the one that separated their bath from the men. _They've probably finished_, she assumed and leaned in against the rocks.

"Sakura-san! Here's the towel!"

Her green eyes look up; a woman was now placing a new towel beside her belongings by the edge of the pool.

"Thank you so much!"

"Oh, it was nothing Yuhime-san." Sakura smiled back.

"Sakura-san, aren't you going out for the festival? I hear the manager had set up a grand fireworks display this night," the lady with long black hair asked.

"Uhmm. I think I'll stay here for a while…"

"Ok then." And off the lady went, leaving her alone again.

…

The hot spring held a calming effect, to the point that it was almost hypnotizing. Sakura had her eyes closed and was absentmindedly moving her hands across the water in a back and forth motion. Only simple idle thoughts swam in her mind. For a moment, she thought of considering the festival, she would love to see the fireworks. Maybe she should, she thought, holding up one of her hands which now felt a bit wrinkled.

And then, in the middle of that dreamy reverie, something snapped her out of it.

There was a voice coming from the other side of the fence.

"Sakura-chan…" it said.

The voice belonged to Uzumaki Naruto.

"Naruto?" Sakura choked, eyes widened and now fully awake.

"Hai, it's me." Naruto responded, his voice clear. Sakura wouldn't be able to see, but on his side of the spring, he had positioned himself by the fence, seated down, his back leaning on the wood.

"Oh, I thought you already left."

"Uh… I de… decided to... stay behind." He seemed to be swallowing his words.

Sakura took notice. "Are you ok? You're not drowning over there are you?"

"I.. I'm fine Sakura-chan!" He lied, and hoped Sakura didn't notice the shake in his voice. _Fine_ was the least he was now. Naruto clutched his stomach which seemed to be twisting itself into a dozen knots. Three years with Jiraiya and he had seen loads of women, and yet, it was only her that could encourage this sort of feeling which involved a racing heartbeat that bordered on becoming a heart attack. And he can't even see her face at the moment.

"Good, because if you are, I certainly have no plans of coming over there and rescuing you." Sakura told him, in a tone that warned him he better not be trying anything funny.

Naruto had to grin.

_That's her. Either she's crushing my head or leaving me off to die._

Naruto brought his hand up to his neck, feeling his throat. He gulped. _Come on, say it_! He commanded himself. He looked down at the piece of paper half-crumpled in his fist. The first written line said: _Sakura-chan, would you like to talk?_

Naruto ran a hand through his hair.

_Well, I got past the Sakura-chan part… Come on Uzumaki, just five words more! _

"wu..wu…would…" Naruto croaked out, but Sakura cut him off.

"Uhm…… Naruto…" Sakura began.

"Naruto, would you… like to talk?" Sakura asked, rather unsure. She tried to ignore the voice in her head that went: _What are you saying?_

"About… what?" Naruto replied through his shock, still surprised from the sudden turn of events, which seems to be quite favoring him.

"Oh… Just anything... like what did you do in those three years?" Sakura found herself brightening up. "Your adventures out there, outside Konoha..."

"Adventures? More like torture. That ero-sennin was completely heartless," he told her.

Naruto's script now lay forgotten.

Sakura smiled, she can almost imagine Naruto's face contorted into a frown, which really was.

"He wouldn't let me eat if I can't get a ninjutsu right." He continued. "And when we are not in practice, he'd tell me, 'you're a **growing** shinobi Naruto, this **is** part of your training!' Naruto gave his best imitation of Jiraiya's tone and voice.

"As if going to bars and flirting with women were relevant." He added.

Sakura laughed. Naruto never failed to encourage this refreshing feeling whenever he was in his happy moods. And it hit her.

**BARS! FLIRTING WITH WOMEN!**

"**Just kidding Sakura-chan!** I was kidding! It was a joke!" Naruto said out loud to save himself. He was already moving towards the center of his pool, fearing that Sakura might crush a hole into the fence, and grab his neck.

…

Sakura was thinking how absurd the situation was, talking and yet not seeing each other's faces, but a rather lengthy conversation went on from there, even though they simply chatted about everyday things, just the usual goings-on.

About Sakura surprising everyone as she crushed the arena floor during her Chuunin exam. Or about Naruto getting tied down a cliff as Jiraiya's form of punishment. How both of them had to endure their unpredictable mentors.

Or they went on to talk about other Konoha ninjas, realizing some things do change, or stay the same. Like how big Akamaru had grown, and Kiba just as noisy. Or how Lee had recuperated perfectly, and still just as emotional like Gai-sensei.

And though not aware of how much time had passed, both finally felt that it's getting pretty late.

"See you Sakura-chan!" Naruto got up from his position, turning to face the fence, his lips curved into a small smile.

"Good night Naruto," Sakura returned as she got up from the pool and reached for her towel.

…

And that's when she saw it.

Picking up the white cloth, she discovered a parcel of colored paper, a pretty laced ribbon sat on top of it. The wrapping itself was beautiful; the paper was printed with detailed sakura blossoms dotted by golden ink. She began to wonder what could be inside. Something quite worth a lot, she was sure.

And Sakura was so surprised she can't bring herself to react. Her mouth hung open, but no words seemed to be getting out.

And then she heard him say, his voice clear even beyond the fence.

"I'll be waiting by the gate, near the bridge."

And she heard the sound of his footsteps, running away. What he just said, Sakura didn't understand.

Then she spotted a note that the ribbon held in place. Sakura carefully read.

In Naruto's sprawling handwriting and across several ink blotches, it said:

_Dear Sakura-chan,_

_Just something I want to give you._

_You can consider this as three years worth of birthday presents. Hope you like it._

_Naruto._

_P.S. Would you like to see the fireworks tonight with me?_

_

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-End-

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Final author notes: 

Thank you so much for those who reviewed! I never expected it to reach that much number. Thank you, thank you, and thank you! For those who placed this on their faves, on their alerts, on the C2s, and everyone who took time to read Outpours, I am forever grateful.

And yes, I am working on Outpours part 2. I have finally written the first paragraph. So much for progress. Please forgive me, it might take quite a while, err… a long while.

Again, arigatou gozaimasu!


	3. Outpours 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**Outpours**

By: caelizar

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**Chapter 2**

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He looked upwards and watched the sky overhead grow dim, a slight rumble of thunder sounded and echoed through the ashen clouds. It wasn't soon before raindrops began pelting his face.

Naruto drew an umbrella open, and in a few seconds rain poured like hell and everything within sight blurred under its torrents.

He was moving swiftly through a thick forest, taking advantage of the few minutes that the resting storm will spare him. Konoha was now covered in mist and moss, a wrong turn of foot could lead to disaster. One needs to be careful, but Naruto however, increased the chakra in his soles for more hold, speeding up as the forest clearing finally revealed the giant doors of his village.

He passed through the gate without much ceremony, still keeping his pace, only stopping to signal the guards who had looked at him as if he was some ghost back from the dead.

A chilly draft stung his hands and his face, causing him to curse under his breath. Forgetting to put on a thicker jacket was one big mistake, and Naruto noticed it's seriously getting colder. _I better get home fast_, he whispered to himself, and hastily shoved the mission scrolls into his kunai holster. He turned around and hurriedly made his way through the rain.

Then the freezing wind started to blow stronger, it hissed through the air, and Naruto felt as if it was trying to pry the umbrella off from his fingers. And he knew that struggling was futile; the umbrella flew easily away before him just when his apartment was a few roofs away.

_Argh! Shit! No!_ He ran after it.

"Damn, can't see anything…", his eyes blinked to keep vision.

He ran through an empty street, water sloshed around his ankles as he did. Minutes passed and still no sign of his umbrella, or even anyone for that matter.

And then at last, he spotted a lone figure not far from him.

_Hey!_ He waved his hands. Naruto could see through the rain that whoever that was, that person was holding his umbrella. Must have caught it when it was blown away from him. He ran forward.

_Hey! Thanks!_ He continued to shout through the loud pattering of raindrops.

_Hey! _

And he sped closer only to be stopped.

_Surprise._

_Surprise…_

It was a girl.

A girl with that unmistakable pink hair he was so familiar with, whose pair of green eyes where now wide in shock.

And in a few quick (angry?) strides, she shortened the distance between them.

…

A resounding slap was heard, but was immediately muted by the harsh rattle of rainfall. However it did nothing to ease the sore on his left cheek. His face frozen in shock as he brought his hand to touch the stinging whiskered spot on his face.

Pain.

Rain.

And time seemed to stop along with everything else. As if the whole world just gave into a halt. That was how it felt for him.

And only one thing continued.

Hard cold rain.

Naruto lifts his eyes at the pale beautiful girl before him. Though the rainwater on Sakura's face hid it, he knows she is crying. Both their umbrellas now lay in the flood of water by her feet.

And then…

Just like that quick sharp slap...

"_DON'T YOU JUST STAND THERE UZUMAKI NARUTO! SAY SOMETHING! Say... something... say... anything_..." She sobbed between words, her eyes shut tight, fighting back the tears.

It's the first time he hears her voice again.

It really felt difficult to say anything now.

But what could he say? Tell her that he left so that he could forget? Tell her that she was the very reason he left? And confess how everything was a stupid cowardly plan because all he can think about is her, day in, day out? What? Confess to her that she is everything to him but he'll step back for Sasuke because he's the one that makes Sakura happy? And her happiness is all that matters?

No. He can't just blurt out those. It's all too sappy and cliché. The kind that only happens in the movies...

And so now, he really felt he was an idiot, for a loud mouth ninja who said he never gives up.

And he knows that all he ever wanted to do was to rush forward and hold her and tell Sakura to stop crying. But he stood still. It seemed that the ankle-deep water chained him to the ground.

_What now? _

He breathed out the air he was holding far too long.

And with resolute look on his face, he moved towards and took her by surprise by scooping her up to carry her. Naruto is going to do the only logical thing that's running through his mind. Sakura's getting drenched, he needs to take her home. A few hand seals and both disappeared.

Uzumaki Naruto had finally come home. It had been eight months… and two years.

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Author notes:

Writing outpours had become much of a surprise for me, I intended for a one-shot, but that seems impossible... and the readers to give me reviews... it fattens my heart... yes, so plenty of surprises... Especially this second part which I have wrestled with for many many nights and days... half-decent drafts after another... so elusive... I can simply hope it wouldn't take me as long to write the final chapters. Until then... Thank you everyone!


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